The Odin ship received the highest grants

For the past eight years, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs has paid 17 million to non-governmental organizations, on the one hand in the form of direct operating grants and on the other in the form of grants for certain projects.

This is stated in the reply of the Minister of Finance and Economy to the inquiry of Thorstein Sæmundsson, Deputy MP of the Central Party.

By far the highest strength

The Odin’s Dutch Association actually carry the head and shoulders of other NGOs when it comes to grants from the ministry. In 2023, the organization received ISK 10 million in grants for projects and has therefore actually received well over half of all the grants that the ministry has paid out in recent years.

The organization was formed in 2006 to prevent the ship Odin from being sold in scrap iron, as planned at that time. The aim of the association is to preserve the history of the ship and the history of the cod war years.

Guðmundur Hallvarðsson, a former member of the Independence Party, took the initiative in the establishment of the association.

The ship is now a museum ship and it is preserved at Reykjavik harbor.

Closer to annual grants

When it comes to direct operating grants, two NGOs have been paid the highest grants. On the one hand, the organization Holy Days in Reykjavik and on the other, the organization achievement.

The organization has both received ISK 1.6 million in operating grants from the Ministry.

Quiet days in Reykjavik have been paid grants annually with the exception of 2020, but that year no grants were paid by the Ministry.

However, achievement received only grants in 2023. The organization was formed with the aim of concrete being made by the artwork Achievement by Nina Sæmundsson and the cast would be set up in Hvolsvöllur, but it was finally done in 2023.

You can see an overview of all the grants of the ministry in Reply from the Minister.